The Societal Impacts of a Mars Mission in the Future of Space Exploration

The human race has evolved, grown and expanded through the exploration of Earth. After initial steps on the Moon, our next challenge is to explore the solar system. From the Mars mission viewpoint stepping on this planet will bring social impacts which may influence the society to a great extent. Never before have there been so complex mission settings. This implies as an inherent impediment for the future of space exploration since it is most likely to be scrutinized and challenged by the public. The goal of this paper is to outline the societal impacts of a Mars mission in the future of space exploration by first introducing the existing challenges and then identifying the primary groups that form public opinion and concludes where efforts should be focused.